ABERCROMBIE & FITCH INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PLAN ANTONIOS BOUGIOURIS
ABERCROMBIE & FITCH BRIEF BACKGROUND • In early 1990's, successfully rebranded by targeting 18-22 year-olds who aspire to wear casual, luxury, all-American clothes & accessories. • Views brand image as most important asset • Made a name for itself for being timeless & classic and for creating an “air of exclusivity.”
“Rooted in East Coast Traditions and Ivy League heritage, Abercrombie & Fitch is the essence of privilege and casual luxury. The Adirondacks supply a clean and rugged inspiration to this youthful All-American Lifestyle. A combination of classic and sexy creates a charged atmosphere that is confident and just a bit provocative. Idolized and respected, Abercrombie & Fitch is timeless, and always cool.”
COMPETITIVE/INDUSTRY OVERVIEW • Highly-fragmented, mature, and competitive • Limited opportunities for product innovation • Biggest barrier to entry is brand reputation • Must quickly respond to changing trends to maintain relevancy • Sensitive to macroeconomic shifts • Brand recognition, fashion, price, service, store location, selection, and quality are the principal competitive factors in retail store and direct-to-consumer sales • Direct-to-consumer retailers are an increasing threat. (IBIS World forecasts this segment to grow at an annual average of 10.5% to $154.4 billion over next 5 years.) Source: Euromonitor International, August 2014
OVERALL STRATEGIC OVERVIEW
Source: Euromonitor International, August 2014
STRATEGIC CHALLENGES FOR THE BRAND • Changed consumer behavior ‣ Minimal change in product assortment ‣ Consumers desire trendy, less expensive alternatives ‣ Target demographic values individuality over conformity ‣ Changing views on beauty ‣ Target demographic expects their brands to stand for something and be transparent. ‣ Technology now competing for apparel dollars • Changed competitive landscape / Emergence of Fast Fashion • Various PR Scandals • Declining financial performance
CURRENT CORPORATE OBJECTIVES 1. Recovering productivity & profitability in its U.S. stores. ‣ Improve fashion and evolve assortment ‣ Increasing brand engagement ‣ Increase marketing spend to launch global campaigns 2. Increasing international sales to 50% of total sales 3. Increasing direct-to-consumer penetration to 25% ‣ Improve digital & Direct-to-consumer experience 4. Reducing expense ‣ Inventory & supply chain management ‣ Gross savings from profit improvement
CURRENT TARGET MARKET AND MESSAGING STRATEGY
• • • • • • • • •
18-22 year old Males & Female Financially Dependent Attractive Athletic Confident Charismatic Popular Aspirational/Social Status Seekers Desire for sense of belonging
• Uses psychological/emotional appeals and images to create a response based on.. ‣ Security ‣ Esteem ‣ Sensory and sensual pleasure ‣ Instinctual desire for belonging
CURRENT IN STORE EXPERIENCE • Primary marketing vehicle • Enhance aspirational & emotional appeals with lifestyle/image reinforcement • Emphasizes the senses of sight, sound, & smell ‣ ‣ ‣ ‣
Dark/Moody Lighting Loud Music Lounge Chairs & Couches Sprayed with Fierce Fragrance
• Meticulous and uniform merchandise displays • Sales Staff called “Models”
CURRENT PRINT & TVC MEDIA • Magazines ‣ Vanity Fair ‣ Out ‣ Rolling Stone ‣ Interview • A&F Quarterly produced by A&F agency, Shahid & Company
2012 Commercial 2007 Commercial
CURRENT OUT OF HOME MEDIA
CURRENT DIGITAL MEDIA
NEW POSITIONING STATEMENT
“Abercrombie & Fitch is the only US fashion retailer that offers a timeless and unique New York style that promotes self-expression and individuality.”
NEW TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC KEY INSIGHTS • • • • • •
Individualistic Digital natives “Preppy” falls out of fashion with target Fashion conscious Not moved by sexual imagery Want brands to stand for something
NEW TARGET ATTRIBUTES • • • • • • •
Male or female Slightly older / aged 23-29 Urban Individual style Love New York Love style and fashion Ambitious
NEW IMC CAMPAIGN PLAN AND GOALS • Halt declining sales to 3% • Deflect negative associations • New attribute awareness, transfer, and recall INTERNAL BRANDING STRATEGY: STORE/ INTRANET/ CONTEST
IMC STRATEGY: TVC / PRINT / DIGITAL
‣ New York ‣ Style ‣ Individuality ‣ Self-Expression • Increase brand engagement ‣ Number of followers and comments
ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY: CONTEST / EVENT / USER GENERATED CONTENT
‣ Event/contest participation ‣ Internal contest participation • Increase lead conversion • Increase social media impressions ‣ Shares, likes, and video views
IMC CHANNELS
PAID
OWNED
EARNED
Stores
Event
TVC
Digital
Contest
App
User Generated Content
THE ARGUMENT FOR PRINT “Fashion and beauty magazines attract about 50 percent more young readers than they did in 2001, and while young women typically “grew out” of these titles fairly quickly as they aged, they now read these magazines long after they leave their mid-20s. Men’s magazines also gained ground with the 18-to-24 set, thanks to the addition of lad mags like Maxim…” Source: Adweek
Source: http://megamediamarketing.com/demographics.html
PRINT AND TVC CHANNELS
PRINT GOALS:
TVC GOALS:
DISPLAY
TARGET
AUDIENCE(000)
COST
COSMOPOLITAN
18-25 (25.6%)
17,152
Full page $307,700
MAXIM
26,4
11,537
Full Page $261,50
TARGET
Reach
TV
AMERICAN IDOL 18-34
Wednesday (6.7 million), Thursday (5.7 million),
You tube
18-26
1,000,000
Facebook pages
18-26
921,211
18-26
61,700
18-26
140,000
“FIND YOUR NEW YORK SPIRIT” TVC VIDEO STORYBOARD
TVC CONCEPT TEST FINDINGS The video was shown along with 5 other commercials in order to measure ad recall and associations. Ages 18-23 (7 respondents)
Ages 26-35 (9 respondents)
People recall the brand within other commercials and understand the brand message.
Brand reputation still influences people.
They clearly stated that each neighborhood in New York has its own style and A&F believes in that individuality.
Recall based more on song and location rather than the content.
There are positive associations with NY and individual style. The song is also familiar and well remembered.
Video quality effected the test.
This age group failed to make the connection between the New York spirit and Abercrombie & Fitch.
DIGITAL: NEW MIX & MATCH STYLE APP • Mix & match Abercrombie clothes to create your unique personal style • App will help to make style combinations. • Suggestions of Abercrombie's new pieces/ styles created by the designers every month. • Users can also share the pictures they create with the app.
GOALS FOR APP: Reach
300,000 Downloads
BRAND ENGAGEMENT: THE CONTEST AND NEW YORK CITY EVENT CONTEST PROCESS: Choose a NY neighborhood you identify with and create a style based on that preference
Register online and share with friends Registration
Top 50 stories round in NY Participants createselected a version of for theirfinal preferred New York style The Top 75 stories will be selected for final rounds
Convince judges and audience at event
15 Participants compete with #abercrombiespirit
Win Scholarship to Parsons School for Design
ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY GOALS: TWITTER FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM CENTRAL PARK UNION SQUARE TIME SQAUE
REACH 617,000 10%: 61,700 9,212, 211 10%: 921,211 1,400,000 10%: 140,000 50,000 40,000
TOTAL IMC CAMPAIGN BUDGET
IMC BUDGET VIDEO
CONTEST
PRINTED
INTERNAL
16% 51%
26% 7%
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN J TV YOUTUBE INTERNAL CAMPAIGN CONTEST FACEBOOK TWITTER YOUTUBE APP COSMOPOLITAN MAXIM
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